Oscars 2025 live updates: Arrivals begin, including Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo’s ‘Wicked’-themed dresses

Cynthia Erivo puts thought into every part of her outfit, especially her nails.

The Oscar-nominated “Wicked” star showed up to the 2025 Academy Awards paying tribute to the musical. The actor and singer channeled Elphaba by wearing a custom Louis Vuitton dark green structured gown.

However, it was the detail in her nails that took the “Wicked” homage to another level.

Done by manicurist Mycah Dior, Erivo told E! that with her nails she wanted to give a proper nod to Oz and Emerald City, as the awards season came to an end.

During her interview with said that she and Dior “try to go as far as we can,” adding that everything is made by hand.

Erivo is nominated in the best actress category for her role in the Jon M. Chu musical. While talking to E! she shared what she’s learned over the “Wicked” press tour.

“The more vulnerable I am, the more present I can be and that’s something that really surprised me,” she said, adding that she has shared so much of herself like never before.

The red carpet is all rolled out for the biggest names in Hollywood as the 2025 Oscars kick off. Dressed to the nines in lavish gown and unique twists on black tie attire, actors, nominees, hosts and presenters posed for the photographers before the ceremony starts.

From Elle Fanning in custom Givenchy, Cynthia Erivo in bespoke Louis Vuitton, Ariana Grande in a unique Schiaparelli and Jeff Goldblum bringing some color to the carpet in Prada, the stars are serving their best glam.

Cynthia Erivo

Felicity Jones

Elle Fanning

Julianne Hough

Jeff Goldblum

Ariana Grande

Ethan Slater

Rachel Sennott

Joe Alwyn

Coco Jones

 Marissa Bode

Mindy Kaling

Connie Nielsen

O’Brien is teasing his first time hosting the Oscars with what he’s calling a “preshow ritual.” It somehow involves playing an acoustic guitar, puffing on a pipe and looking off into the distance with an expression of surprise.

O’Brien is known for hosting the late-night talk shows “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” and “Conan.” He was also a writer for “Saturday Night Live” and “The Simpsons.”

Ariana Grande wowed with her 2025 Oscars gown.

The “Wicked” star continued with her Glinda-inspired looks by donning a pale pink billowing and structured gown. The corset bodice gave way to an umbrella-inspired draping for the ball gown skirt.

The dress is a Schiaparelli spring/summer 2025 design from their couture collection. It features 190,000 crystal sequins and rhinestones. She was styled by her longtime stylist Mimi Cuttrell.

The actor is nominated for her first Academy Award in the best supporting actress category. She is also expected to perform during the telecast.

The controversies kept coming this awards season.

“Emilia Pérez,” the most nominated movie at this year’s Oscars, first faced backlash over matters of Mexican and trans representation. Then came the hubbub around the star, Karla Sofía Gascón. She made history as the first openly trans actor to be nominated for an acting Oscar. In the lead-up to the Academy Awards, Gascón’s past tweets, which contained racist and Islamophobic sentiments, were unearthed. The actor issued an apology through Netflix and gave an interview to CNN Español.

Many of the other best picture nominees faced degrees of controversy, too, from Mikey Madison’s decision not to use an intimacy coordinator for “Anora” to the use of AI in “The Brutalist.”

Check out a full run-down below.

“Wicked” star Ariana Grande is sharing her gratitude the day before she’s expected to attend and perform at the Oscars.

Grande, who is nominated for best actress in a supporting role, wrote on Instagram on March 1 that she’s “feeling so grateful and excited to celebrate @wickedmovie family all weekend long” with a bubble emoji.

“grateful beyond words for this honor and to be a part of this moment,” she continued. “@theacademy this has been such an unimaginably beautiful time.”

Grande concluded her Instagram story, “see you all tomorrow.”

The actor also shared an Instagram story from co-star Cynthia Erivo, which pictured the two in pink and green — Elphaba and Glinda’s signature colors. The caption read, “happy Ozcars day!”

Erivo and Grande are slated to hit the stage at the Sunday night ceremony, performing as their Oscar-nominated roles, Elphaba and Glinda.

Of the 20 acting nominees at this year’s Oscars, there’s an impressive slate of first-timers. The list includes Hollywood heavyweights, pop stars and newcomers alike. Here’s the full list of acting nominees who got their first nomination in 2025.

1. Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez in “A Compete Unknown”
2. Ariana Grande as Glinda in “Wicked”
3. Kieran Culkin as Benji Kaplan in “A Real Pain”
4. Isabella Rossellini as Sister Agnes in “Conclave”
5. Mikey Madison as Ani in “Anora”
6. Yura Borisov as Igor in “Anora”
7. Demi Moore as Elisabeth Sparkle in “The Substance”
8. Fernanda Torres as Eunice Paiva in “I’m Still Here”
9. Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn in “The Apprentice“
10. Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump in “The Apprentice”
11. Zoe Saldaña as Rita Mora Castro in “Emilia Pérez”
12. Guy Pearce as Harrison Lee Van Buren in “The Brutalist”
13. Karla Sofía Gascón as Emilia Pérez in “Emilia Pérez”

Be ready at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT — and you have options. You can either:

• Watch the show live on ABC
• Stream the show live on Hulu for the first time
• Stream the show on ABC.com or the ABC app, if you’re a cable subscriber
• Or, watch through a live TV subscription service like Hulu Live TV, YouTubeTV, AT&T TV and FuboTV, many of which offer a free trial.

Find out more details about how to watch the Oscars here.

TODAY.com recently surveyed a group of tarot readers and astrologers, including Lisa Stardust, to have them predict which actors and filmmakers could walk away with golden statues at the 2025 Oscars.

After using a variety of methods, including natal charts, the group believed that Demi Moore could possibly win for her best actress for her leading role in “The Substance.”

For the best actor category, the group was more split and the results were too close to call. However, Adrien Brody seemed most likely to earn his second Academy Award and win for his performance in “The Brutalist.”

The final category the tarot readers and astrologers examined was best picture. Although the group did not come to a consensus, they determined that either “Anora” or “The Brutalist” would take home the win.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revealed in November that Emmy-winning comedian Conan O’Brien would serve as host for the 2025 Oscars.

O’Brien, a first-time host of the awards ceremony, celebrated landing the gig with a funny quip. “America demanded it and now it’s happening: Taco Bell’s new Cheesy Chalupa Supreme. In other news, I’m hosting the Oscars,” he said in a press release.

Leading up to the show, O’Brien spoke to “The New York Times” about what it means to him to emcee the major Hollywood event.

“To be a part of it is meaningful to me,” he said. “I don’t think of it as a thankless task — even if I just do it once, and no one’s interested in me doing it again, it will have been a meaningful experience for me. My parents aren’t here to see it, but I know it would have been a huge deal to them.”

The former talk show host’s parents died in December just three days apart. The couple were married for over 60 years.

He also shared what viewers can expect. “It is all about threading the needle. I’m there, really, to talk about these films, to talk about the industry. And yes, there’s going to be political jokes here and there; there have to be,” O’Brien said.

The comic continued, “But if it’s a screed, I’m doing a disservice to everybody. I’m actually doing a disservice to the people who might agree with the screed, in my opinion. However anyone voted should not be a prerequisite for whether you enjoy the show. I feel very strongly about that.”

Some of the most talked about films and actors of the past year scored nominations at the 2025 Oscars.

The Netflix musical “Emilia Pérez,” whose star Karla Sofía Gascón has been embroiled in controversy after journalist Sarah Hagi discovered a series of offensive tweets from the actor, leads with 13 nominations.

That marks the most-ever for a non-English language film. “Wicked” and “The Brutalist” slightly trail with 10 nominations. “Conclave” and “A Complete Unknown” received eight nominations each.

A whopping 13 of the 20 actors up for awards are first-time nominees, including Ariana Grande for “Wicked” and Mikey Madison for “Anora.”

Meanwhile, previous nominees like Timothée Chalamet and Colman Domingo were recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, again.

See the full list of nominees below.

Best picture

• “Anora”
• “The Brutalist”
• “A Complete Unknown”
• “Conclave”
• “Dune: Part Two”
• “Emilia Pérez”
• ‘I’m Still Here”
• “Nickel Boys”
• “The Substance”
• “Wicked”

Actress in a leading role

• Cynthia Erivo, “Wicked”
• Karla Sofía Gascón, “Emilia Pérez”
• Mikey Madison, “Anora”
• Demi Moore, “The Substance”
• Fernanda Torres, “I’m Still Here”

Actor in a leading role

• Adrien Brody, “The Brutalist”
• Timothée Chalamet, “A Complete Unknown”
• Colman Domingo, “Sing Sing”
• Ralph Fiennes, “Conclave”
• Sebastian Stan, “The Apprentice”

Actress in a supporting role

• Monica Barbaro, “A Complete Unknown”
• Ariana Grande, “Wicked”
• Felicity Jones, “The Brutalist”
• Isabella Rossellini, “Conclave”
• Zoe Saldaña, “Emilia Pérez”

Actor in a supporting role

• Yura Borisov, “Anora”
• Kieran Culkin, “A Real Pain”
• Edward Norton, “A Complete Unknown”
• Guy Pearce, “The Brutalist”
• Jeremy Strong, “The Apprentice”

Directing

• Sean Baker, “Anora”
• Brady Corbet, “The Brutalist
• James Mangold, “A Complete Unknown”
• Jacques Audiard, “Emilia Pérez”
• Coralie Fargeat, “The Substance”

Original screenplay

• “Anora”
• “The Brutalist”
• “A Real Pain”
• “September 5”
• “The Substance”

Adapted Screenplay

• “A Complete Unknown”
• “Conclave”
• “Emilia Pérez”
• “Nickel Boys”
• “Sing Sing”

Animated feature film

• “Flow”
• “Inside Out 2”
• “Memoir of a Snail”
• “Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl”
• “The Wild Robot”

Cinematography

• “The Brutalist”
• “Dune: Part Two”
• “Emilia Pérez”
• “Maria”
• “Nosferatu”

Costume design

• “A Complete Unknown”
• “Conclave”
• “Gladiator 2”
• “Nosferatu”
• “Wicked”

Sound

• “A Complete Unknown”
• “Dune: Part Two”
• “Emilia Pérez”
• “Wicked”
• “The Wild Robot”

Live action short film

• “A Lien”
• “Anuja”
• “I’m Not a Robot”
• “The Last Ranger”
• “The Man Who Would Not Remain Silent”

Animated short film

• “Beautiful Men”
• “In the Shadow of the Cypress”
• “Magic Candies”
• “Wander to Wonder”
• “Yuck!”

Original score

• “The Brutalist”
• “Conclave”
• “Emilia Pérez”
• “Wicked”
• “The Wild Robot”

Original song

• “El Mal” from “Emilia Pérez”
• “The Journey” from “The Six Triple Eight”
• “Like a Bird” from “Sing Sing”
• “Mi Camino” from “Emilia Pérez”
• “Never Too Late” from “Elton John: Never Too Late”

Documentary feature film

• “Black Box Diaries”
• “No Other Land”
• “Porcelain War”
• “Soundtrack To A Coup D’Etat”
• “Sugarcane”

Documentary short film

• “Death by Numbers”
• “I Am Ready, Warden”
• “Incident”
• “Instruments of a Beating Heart”
• “The Only Girl in the Orchestra”

International feature film

• “I’m Still Here” (Brazil)
• “The Girl With The Needle” (Denmark)
• “Emilia Pérez” (France)
• “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” (Germany)
• “Flow” (Latvia)

Makeup and hairstyling

• “A Different Man”
• “Emilia Pérez”
• “Nosferatu”
• “The Substance”
• “Wicked”

Production design

• “The Brutalist”
• “Conclave”
• “Dune: Part Two”
• “Nosferatu”
• “Wicked”

Film editing

• “Anora”
• “The Brutalist”
• “Conclave”
• “Emilia Pérez”
• “Wicked”

Visual effects

• “Alien: Romulus”
• “Better Man”
• “Dune: Part Two”
• “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes”
• “Wicked”